Monday, 10th January 2011

RIGHTS FEE


=>  Vietnam’s top soccer league, the V-League, risks television blackout when it kicks off on January 23, after cable TV broadcaster, Audio Vision Global, that last month signed a 20-year television rights deal for the league with the Vietnam Football Federation, yesterday failed to reach agreement with local television stations about match broadcast. AVG plans to launch its own 70-channel TV package later this year, has set a deadline of Monday to agree deals with local broadcasters. AVG replaced state-owned VTV, the V-League’s long-standing broadcast partner, as the rights-holder, paying a reported VND6 billion ($307,800) this year, with the fee set to rise each season thereafter.


BROADCAST

=>  Subscribers to Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) has exceeded 1.3 million in Shanghai, the largest among world cities, Xinhua reports. Shanghai-based media group, Radio and Television Shanghai, started a trial project to promote IPTV service in Shanghai and Harbin after being offered China's first licence to run the service in March 2005.

=>  PyeongChang 2018, the Korean city’s bid to host the winter Olympic Games in 2018, signed a sponsorship agreement with the Korean Broadcasters Association, which has 38 Korean broadcaster members. The bid said that the agreement will offer it exposure on various news, entertainment and cultural television programmes broadcast by the KBA members. PyeongChang is bidding against Annecy in France and Munich in Germany to host the games, with selection of the host city due in July.

=> AXN has struck a deal with CU MEDIA to manage and operate AXN in Korea's growing pay-TV market. The deal will allow AXN's current programming of Korean subtitled English language shows to be further localized with additional Korean content and sees an expansion of AXN's on cable. AXN entered Korea in July 2005 as a foreign retransmission channel and has since launched AXN channel in HD, the first international GE channel to secure carriage on all three IPTV platforms; CJ Hellovision and On Media, to launch AXN on cable. AXN Korea has a combined reach of over 4 million households including Cable and SkyLife (DTH).


EVENT

=>  Computer manufacturer, Acer, has been unveiled as a sponsor of the BWF Super Series Finals, the apex event of badminton season. The tournament involves the top players from the top-tier Super Series in 2010. Acer, based in Chinese Taipei, is a TOP sponsor of the International Olympic Committee in a 4-year deal which runs up to 2012 Olympic Games in London. UK-based equipment manufacturer, Victor Sports, is the title sponsor of the $500,000 Super Series Finals

=>  Lance Armstrong’s Team RadioShack will participate in India's first professional cycling race sanctioned by UCI in the two-stage event this year. Armstrong’s own participation is still being negotiated between organisers ID Sports, which now owns the title for the Mumbai Cyclothon-Tour de Mumbai, and discussions are on. ESPN has reportedly bagged the broadcast rights for the Tour de Mumbai, which covers two stages in cities of Nashik and Mumbai. Other pro-tour teams coming for the Mumbai Cyclothon-Tour de Mumbaj are Liquigas, and possibly HTC Columbia, AG2R and Loto.


NEW MEDIA

=>  According data from Point Topic, over 14.3 million broadband lines were added in the third quarter of 2010 around the world, a 2.88% growth compared with Q2/10 and 6.7% year on year to leave a total of 508.7 million lines by the end of Q310. Aside from China and India, growth was also strong in Russia, Vietnam, Ukraine and the Philippines who all grew by over 20% in the last 12 months. The broadband boom has hugely positive implications for IPTV growth, driving the total number of IPTV subscribers to 41.9 million. This represented a yearly growth of 36.7% over the year and 7.3% quarter on quarter. Europe still leads with 46% market share, and France still the leading IPTV nation (10 mil subscribers) but is being chased by China who will likely overtake to claim leadership sometime in 2011.


OTHER BUSINESS NEWS

=>  FC Barcelona emerged as the biggest recipient of a $40 million pay-out from FIFA to 400 clubs that released players for last year’s World Cup in South Africa. Barcelona received $866,267 for the six starting players to the Spain team that beat the Netherlands 1-0. Barcelona was followed by Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool and Real Madrid in the pay-outs. FIFA agreed to make payments in March 2008 paying $1,600 per player per day for the duration of the tournament. $70 million has been set aside for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

=>  FIFA is facing major backlash from clubs, commercial partners and organisers of other events if it goes through with switching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the winter. This unprecedented move would involve "significant changes" to the calendars of European leagues not just for the year of the tournament, but also for the preceding and subsequent seasons. Sepp Blatter said he expects the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to be held in January rather than in June and July in a bid to combat summer temperatures of up to 50º C. That viewpoint does not sit well with Europe's elite leagues. Of the major European leagues, England, France and Spain do not have a winter break at all, while Germany and Italy enjoy only a few weeks respite in January.